The Baby Tea

Last night was so super special. I can't even describe it. But, I'll try...

Yesterday after lunch Joel told me that he and the kids had to take me to a surprise later that night. We had a very relaxing afternoon. The girls took a nap and me and Grady hung out on the couch watching news clips on the computer and then watching part of "Little Women." We got ready to go and headed out about 7pm. I had no idea where we were going.

We went to the church. There are services on Sat. night. So, it was just a church service. By the time it was over, I had practically forgotten about the surprise. :) Joel had told me on the way to "watch, wonder, and wait" until I knew what was going on. O.K.?

After the service, more waiting. Then, we went over to the other building and there it was...a surprise baby shower!! A baby shower here is called "Cha de bebe" (I really should get a portuguese keyboard so I can type everything accurately, with accents and all, but you get the idea)...hence the title of this post (the translation).

It was so very special. They REALLY planned it out so much. Ester, our pastor's wife, came to Joel a few weeks ago and said that they wanted to do a surprise baby shower for me. So neat...they didn't know I love surprises. God is so sweet to give me these little lollipops. She is such a great and sweet lady and she said she wanted to really make it special for me and wanted to make sure I understood. So, the whole thing was in Portuguese and English. Amazing that they took the time to do that...so very special. Again, can't even describe it. I love our church. WONDERFUL people.

Now, a play by play in pictures...


This was SO GREAT. What a cute little train of a family! :)
I loved their signs. They were all a mixture of English and Portuguese. Cute.

After I realized what was going on, I went and hid, um, I mean, sat with Drusilla (on the left...they are with Asas) and Priscilla.
We sang a song first...in English. We sang "Give Thanks." It was so great.

Ester asked Denise (they are with Asas...also our neighbors and attend our church) to say something. Denise said it was a little hard because we haven't known each other that long, but she prayed and man, it was good. She had looked at our website and my blog this week and it came to her...communication. She talked about how communication can be really looked at as the main responsibility of parenting and in particular, in a special way, mothering. It was Deut. 6:6-9 that she talked about and said that she got, from these verses, 3 overall things we need: 1) naturality - it should be natural to speak about God and the things of Him and his principles, etc....it should just come in everyday conversation; 2) discipline - basically everything we do, she said, other than eating and sleeping, requires discipline...we need to be disciplined to really talk to our children about these things...and show them in our own lives; 3) constancy - it needs to be constant...basically it needs to be who you are and not just these random "Bible lessons" every now and then. It was really, really good...and a great challenge. I love those verses.
Denise said everything in English. She lived in the states for about 3 years I believe when she was a child and picked up English then. Ricardo, Denise's husband, also lived in the states for a time when a child. He was a pilot for TAM airlines (the biggest airline in Brazil) until he recently resigned to work with Asas (they just arrived here in January actually). They are a great family. Anyway, he translated into Port. what Denise was saying in English for the rest of the people there.



Our pastor (he is such an awesome pastor!) praying over me, the baby, us. He had also said a few things before the prayer (previous picture)...and he had said them in English (his daughter translated for the rest of the people in Port.). It was so cute. They really went out of their way to make it special and ensure that I understood everything.
The people there praying.
Me losing it when I was telling them thank you and how special it was to me.
Then we played a couple of games. By the way, that is Ludmilla who is also one of the three pastor's daughters (she's gorgeous and so sweet...love her) and our friend Mariana (Neto's wife...we do alot with them). Here we are playing a game where they said something in Portuguese (related to baby things...diapers, nasal aspirator, diaper cream, etc.) and I had to point out what they were saying. It was a cute game and fun...and a good little Port. lesson for me there in the middle of my shower. :)
Next we did the game where everyone guesses how big around I am and cuts a string that length.
Grady trying out his string. He never really measured it against my waist even though it looks like that's what he was doing...and he didn't want to let anyone else take his string to do it either (he was much more interested in just playing with string), but I think he was pretty close to being correct. I think it was the guy in pink that actually won the game.
Isn't this so cute?
The kids each got to open a present before going to bed.
We got lots of diapers and a few really cute outfits/pajamas.
Eissa had a pretty big fall on the concrete at the church. She cried alot, but then got over it. It was pretty red last night.
It looks even worse today.
But, as usual, hasn't phased her.
The kids went to bed and I opened the rest of the presents. Fun stuff. What a great night!!